Amish Technology

[ysabetwordsmith]

Here's a cool article about the Amish adoption of technology. They all follow one basic rule: if a new thing is more trouble than it's worth, they won't use it.  Different Amish communities draw that line in different places.  

I actually use that rule myself, again with a different threshold.  I've had people call me Amish, meaning it as an insult, for not using things they think I should be using that I don't use because they're worthless or troublesome for me.  I say, "No, but that is where I got the idea."  It's a great rule.  It saves so many headaches.  I'm neophilic in many ways.  But I've seen society make a lot of stupid mistakes, and its safety precautions are abysmal.  This contributes to my caution about adopting new things myself.  I look for the drawbacks.

Most people don't.  Their default is to accept new technology.  They often don't consider the costs.

Comments

[lb-lee.livejournal.com]

I have no interest in ever owning a smartphone. Even if they were in my budget, I don't want to give myself that temptation of constant Internet. Plus, those things seem pretty frail, more so than I'm willing to invest in.

Brick Nokias FOREVER. You can hit those things with a truck and they'll still keep working.

--Rogan

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Another reason I'm indifferent to most of the marketplace is that ads almost never say anything I care about, so I ignore all of them. It's just blather. But one in a thousand or so will have actual product information, and one of things that does stick in my mind is durability. Consequently two of the commercials that I remember are "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking" and the one with gorillas jumping on suitcases. Okay, your product promotes durability. If I need that kind of product, I might remember to look at yours first to see if its other features meet my needs.